I’m both types of people. My first stories tended to be autobiographical, as is typical of most writers. Once you burn through those, what will you write about? I’m writing a mystery novel now, something I never thought I’d do. I can’t tell you how it’ll come out because it’s already becoming a quirky thing. My sensibilities are seeping in, but I’ve laid out the whole plot on paper. I’ve learned that’s what mystery writers do, and J.K. Rowling did the same thing for her Harry Potter books.
My early writing had no planned structure, but the more I've written, the more I’ve seen how one can have fun and be creative in writing an outline. It has let me “what if” to a larger degree than I would have without an outline.
Agatha Christie got her best ideas while eating green apples in the bathtub. Steven Spielberg says he gets his best ideas while driving on the highway. When do you get your best ideas and why do you think this is?
I’ve learned my ideas tend to pop out in one of three places: driving, just falling asleep, or taking a shower. Those are times when one daydreams and is under no pressure to create. Your mind free-associates. I’ve learned to keep a notebook next to my bed and in the car to write down good ideas. That’s because of the times I’ve thought, “This idea is so good, so amazing, I won’t forget it.” The shower is short-term enough that I can write things down when I’m dry.
By the way, not all the ideas are always great. In the morning, I might look at my note and think, man, that’s silly. Most ideas have to make it through several hurdles.
Do you write non-stop until you have a first draft, or do you edit as you move along?
With novels and short stories, I write all the way through. This world has too many half-completed books because the writer wanted to get everything perfect until the end — and the book gets stalled. I took Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird to heart, and I allow myself to write a shitty first draft. When you give yourself permission to be mediocre and just write write write, genius sometimes slips in.
They say authors have immensely fragile egos… How would you handle negative criticism or a negative review?
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